#North Country Morgue

[dragobot314]

The Morgue and Its Unfathomable Rash

NORTH COUNTRY MORGUE – Things at the North Country Morgue were steadily increasing in intensity with the reign of Terri the Terror who was just not a suitable fit for retrieving the pallets of dead bodies. Or for the work environment entirely. Karl was desperate to fill the inventory position, knowing that Terri the Terror was going to need to be released to the wild soon or he would sacrifice…

[workersolidarity]

[ 📹 Israeli Occupation Forces open fire on crowds of starving families, including children, in the Gaza Strip Saturday as part of ongoing operations to displace Palestinians, even as several massacres are committed by IOF soldiers.]

🇮🇱⚔️🇵🇸 🚨

💥DAY 114: OCCUPATION FORCES CONTINUE TARGETING CIVILIANS, FORCE MOST OF THE POPULATION OF KHAN YUNIS OUT OF CITY💥

Several dozen civilians were killed, and many more wounded as Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) continue their war of genocide against the population of the Gaza Strip.

Occupation Forces continue to target Khan Yunis City, displacing thousands as occupation warplanes and artillery shelling combine with soldiers on the ground firing automatic weapons at local residents.

Early on Sunday, IOF airstrikes and artillery targeted various parts of Khan Yunis, along with other locations in the south and central Gaza Strip, with medical sources reporting the deaths of several civilians and the wounding of many others after Occupation artillery targeted the al-Amal neighborhood.

Southwest of Gaza City, Israeli jets launched several airstrikes targeting the Tel al-Hawa neighborhood, as well as the western section of the city, resulting in several civilian deaths and injuries to many others, including women and children.

Heavy shelling also continues throughout the north of Gaza, while attacks on the central and southern Gaza Strip also gained steam, with local healthcare sources reporting the arrival of 30 dead civilians to the morgue at the Nasser Medical Complex in the west of Khan Yunis as they wait to be buried.

Additionally, another 150 victims of Israeli crimes were buried in mass graves in the courtyard of the hospital as a result of last night's military siege around the Nasser complex.

On Sunday morning, at least 9 civilians were killed and many more wounded after a series of Israeli firebelts and artillery shelling targeting Gaza City and Khan Yunis.

Occupation warplanes also targeted civilian homes in Gaza City, with an airstrike hitting the Salmi family home in the al-Zaytoun neighborhood, resulting in the slaughter of at least 8 local residents and wounding dozens, with many others still trapped under the rubble of the collapsed buildings.

Meanwhile, one murdered Palestinian resident and four wounded civilians were brought to the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Yunis City after IOF artillery shelling targeted a residential home in the Joura al-Aqad neighborhood west of the city.

According to medical sources with the Palestinian Health Ministry of Gaza, the Israeli occupation army committed a total of 18 massacres against Palestinian families in the Gaza Strip over the previous 24-hours, resulting in the deaths of 174 civilians and the wounding of another 310.

As occupation bombing and shelling continues unabated, the United States and Israel have pressured 9 other countries to abandon funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine (UNRWA), the main humanitarian aid organization assisting Palestinians in Gaza with food and medical aid, after Israeli authorities accused several employees of involvement in the October 7th massacres of Israeli soldiers and colonial settlers outside the enclave.

In response to the accusations, UNRWA suspended the contracts of the accused employees and launched an investigation, however that didn't stop 9 Western countries from cutting of funding to the humanitarian aid agency.

Phillippe Lazzarini, the Secretary General of UNRWA expressed alarm over the Western moves to cut off funding, telling reporters "It is shocking to see a suspension of funds to the Agency in reaction to allegations against a small group of staff, especially given the immediate action that UNRWA took by terminating their contracts and asking for a transparent independent investigation."

As a result of Israel's ongoing genocide in the Gaza Strip, the death toll now exceeds 26'257, with a majority of those killed being women and children, while another 64'797 Palestinians have been wounded in the 114 days since October the 7th.

Also resulting from Israel's aggression, upwards of 2 million Palestinians have been displaced by Israeli Occupation Forces from all areas of the Gaza Strip, with most of the displaced forced into the ever-shrinking, densely crowded city of Rafah near the southern border with Egypt, the largest mass exodus since the Nakba in 1948.

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#videosource

@WorkerSolidarityNews

[warningsine]

Fighting in Sudan has continued for nearly two weeks since it began on April 15, when violence broke out between the country's army and a paramilitary group called the Rapid Support Forces.

The two are engaged in a power struggle over who gets to run the resource-rich nation that sits at the crossroads between North Africa, the Sahel, the Horn of Africa and the Red Sea.

Previously the warring factions were allies who united after a massive people-power revolution in 2019 to overthrow longtime Sudanese dictator Omar al-Bashir. They promised a transition to democracy — but instead toppled the country's transitional civilian government in a second coup in 2021.

Since then, they have been at odds over plans for a new transition and the integration of the RSF into the regular army. Their fight this month has led to more than 400 deaths and turned the capital's once-quiet residential streets into a disaster zone.

"This is a power projection between Sudan's two most powerful armed forces," says Ahmed Soliman, Horn of Africa researcher at British think tank Chatham House.

Here are some key things to know about the conflict and its likely impact on the region — and beyond.

Who are the generals fighting each other?

Leading the opposing forces are the Sudanese Army's Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan and the RSF's Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, better known by his nickname, Hemedti.

Both served under Bashir and played key roles in the counterinsurgency that began in Sudan's Darfur region in 2003.

Burhan received military training in both Jordan and Egypt. He became the de facto ruler of Sudan as head of the Sovereign Council, a civilian-military partnership created after the popular uprising that deposed Bashir in 2019.

Dagalo rose through the ranks of the notorious Sudanese Arab Janjaweed militia, which is accused of committing atrocities during the 16-year war in Darfur.

He went on to lead Bashir's private militia, but after the mass uprising in 2019, joined Burhan in deposing his former boss.

"The clashes that we're seeing ... are in part the result of these two autocratic leaders' actions, who not only are in charge of vast armies and control much of the state's economy, but which have also been emboldened over the last three years by being key stakeholders in the political process," says Soliman.

They have, he says, "framed themselves as reformers, protectors of Sudan and guardians of its democratic transition and its revolution — falsely so."

What's the humanitarian situation?

The fighting has caused a humanitarian crisis, as people have been forced to remain largely in their homes, only occasionally able to use a pause in the battles to stock up — if they can — on essential supplies like water, food and medicine. While Khartoum has borne the brunt of the fighting, there has also been unrest in other areas, and there are concerns it could awaken conflict in Darfur.

Numerous countries, including the U.S., have closed their embassies and evacuated their personnel. The United Nations has also moved most of its foreign staff out of the country, but the chief of mission has remained in place to push for an end to the fighting.

ombings and gun battles have been taking place in the heart of the capital Khartoum, in residential neighborhoods, with buildings badly damaged.

Alyona Synenko, Africa spokesperson for the International Committee of the Red Cross, says morgues have been filling up. "There have been dead bodies that were in the streets for days and also the morgues are full with the dead," she says. "We are looking at thousands of people who were wounded and the healthcare system in Sudan is on the verge of collapse, or I think we could safely say, collapsing."

There has been a mass prison break from one of the country's main jails, which housed former members of the Bashir regime responsible for rights abuses. And the World Health Organization says one of the warring parties has seized a laboratory which contains measles, polio and cholera isolates, creating a "high risk of biological hazard."

Some 70% of hospitals are not functioning, Dr. Attiya Abdullah, secretary of the Sudan Doctors Trade Union, tells NPR. Health staff have been killed and hospitals are out of electricity or water, with no fuel for generators, he says.

Soaring food and fuel prices are exacerbating problems for ordinary Sudanese.

Tens of thousands are trying to flee to safety, mainly to neighboring Chad and South Sudan, says Faith Kasina, regional spokesperson for the U.N. refugee agency.

"At least 20,000 Sudanese have arrived in Chad and nearly 4,000 South Sudanese refugees have returned to South Sudan. ... These new arrivals are placing additional strain on these countries that already have public services and resources significantly overstretched," she says.

"The teams that we have at the border locations, in mainly South Sudan and Chad, tell us they're witnessing a very dire situation. That people are essentially coming in exhausted, coming in scared. The majority of those that are arriving are women and children... We're seeing cases where people are staying out in the open, under the trees."

What's at stake in the region and beyond?

International diplomats are struggling to bring Sudan back from the brink. Secretary of State Antony Blinken says he has spoken to both generals directly. The African Union is also involved in negotiations. But the U.N. head of mission, Volker Perthes, said this week neither side seemed serious about negotiating.

U.N. Secretary General António Guterres warned on Tuesday the violence could spread to other countries in the region, saying: "It is lighting a fuse that could detonate across borders, causing immense suffering for years, and setting development back for decades."

Sudan is surrounded by a host of fragile states, either in conflict or emerging from it. Before the fall of Bashir, the U.S. long considered Sudan a state sponsor of terrorism.

"Having a stable Sudan that looks to the United States as a partner, as a core partner, that's incredibly strategic," says Susan Stigant, who runs the Africa programs at the U.S. Institute of Peace.

And it's not only Washington that wants to see an end to the fighting. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have financial interests in Sudan. Egypt shares a long border and a significant source of water — the Nile.

China and Sudan have long had a relationship stemming from the North African state's export of oil. Beijing is Sudan's second-biggest trading partner and has considerable investments in the country.

The Russian mercenary group Wagner, which has links to the Kremlin, also has a presence in Sudan, mainly involving guarding Russian-run mines as well as gold smuggling. The group denies any involvement in the conflict.

Russia also has other interests in the country, with Moscow planning to build a military base in Port Sudan on the Red Sea.

How might the current conflict play out?

Many analysts believe that Sudan is headed for a prolonged period of conflict, given that neither general is likely to relinquish power easily.

The many Sudanese who participated in the pro-democracy movement are devastated to see their hopes of a transition back to civilian rule imperiled, but members of the country's so-called resistance committees, which organized the 2019 and post-coup protests, say they're not giving up.

Despite multiple calls for an end to hostilities, several cease-fires have failed. The latest, announced earlier this week, has seen a lull in fighting but not a complete halt.

A number of countries have offered to mediate and get the two generals to the negotiating table. But given how far the leaders have gone in denouncing each other, it's believed they are unlikely to give up their struggle for power now.

Some analysts say this conflict has been long in the making.

Cameron Hudson, a former U.S. official who has worked on Sudan, thinks the U.S. miscalculated by putting too much trust in what the generals said about their commitment to restoring civilian control.

"To see it kind of fall apart now and the whole country kind of go up in flames, I think is, you know, is a real bad signal for the ability of the United States and its allies to help bring about these kinds of transitions, not only in Sudan but all across the region," says Hudson, now with the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Mohamed Osman, a researcher on Sudan at Human Right Watch, says the world should have seen this coming.

"Both forces come with a long legacy of abuse," he says. "The unfortunate part is that the former government, the transitional government, failed to address this legacy of abuse, failed to embark upon security sector reform, alike with the international actors who continued to prioritize politics of appeasement."

[dragonwaffles]

[image IDs: a series of images, some photos, some screenshots, showing various coincidences.

image one: a screenshot from a quiz site. the text on screen reads "The quiz is complete! the Jung personality test's 60 questions classify you as:". underneath is an error message reading "Catastrophic Failure", with instructions provided to fix the error.

image two: two books upright and side by side, front covers facing the camera, presumably for sale at a bookshop or other store. the book on the left's title, in large capital letters, is "God is not mad at you". the book on the right's title is "He's just not that into you".

image three: a screenshot of a Tweet by Dude_the_Praise, which reads "We know he can swim but..." followed by an image of Olympic swimmer Richard Funk walking past the camera. the bottom of the screen shows the country Richard is competing for, Canada, followed by his name. however it is written in a way that makes it appear to read "can Richard Funk?"

image four: a screenshot of a Tweet by PadraigBelton reading "It's been two years. So it's worth revisiting the time a friend was slightly confused by her +Jews! travel charger. Before she realised it was iSmart, upside down." included in the Tweet is a photo of the charger with the logo on the side.

image five: a screenshot of a Tweet by williamhanson that reads "Either there's a Netflix glitch or Marie Kondo's methods have escalated." included in the Tweet is an image of the information for Tidying Up with Marie Kondo, however the image Netflix has included appears to be from another work, showing a person walking across a sandy, sunny location, pointing a long gun at a target offscreen to the right.

image six: a photo of three Domino's pizza delivery motorcycles, each toppled away from the camera in a manner very similar to domino tiles.

image seven: a screenshot from YouTube showing two video thumbnails and titles one above the other. the top video's thumbnail is a photo of Gordon Ramsay speaking with another person who is holding a puffin. the title is "Gordon Ramsay gets bitten on the nose by a puffin". the second video's thumbnail is a photo of Gordon Ramsay cooking on a grill. the title is "Ramsay's barbecued puffin breast".

image eight: a photo of a sign on a beach that reads "if you see someone drowning lol then call 911". the word "then" is likely edited in, as the "lol" is actually a poorly designed image of a stick figure reaching their arms out of the water.

image nine: a screenshot of a list of news articles. the top article is titled "And the winner of the Bake Off is..." with a photo of the judges and hosts from the Great British Bake Off. the second article, which is partially cut off, is titled "Nine dismembered bodies", with a photo that may be of a morgue full of body bags.

image ten: a screenshot of a tumblr post by red-faced-wolf. the post reads "This is like a cards against humanity". underneath the text is a photo of a gravestone. the name on the gravestone is "spanks" in large capital letters. underneath, the gravestone reads in capital letters "Arthur Spanks

his wife

Katherine

image eleven: a screenshot of an article about Anatidaephobia, the fear that you are being watched by a duck. the ad shown next to the body of the article is for Aflac, showing the Aflac duck's head as though it was poking out from behind a wall.

image twelve: two CNN article titles. the first is "S. Korea: North fires projectiles". the second title is "Serena Williams fires back".

image thirteen: a screenshot of a smartphone lock screen showing two notifications. the first is from Pokemon Go, reading "Why not step outside for a bit?" the second is an emergency alert for a tornado warning.

image fourteen: a photo of a TV showing The Office playing on a streaming service that has automatically paused the show due to inactivity. the screen reads "Are you there?". one of the characters appears to be staring directly into the camera, giving the impression he is asking the viewer the question on screen.

image fifteen: screenshot of a post on an unidentified website. the post reads "one of you guys is lyin." (lying). the included photo shows two paintings of men in old fashioned military outfits, the man in the painting on the left pointing left, the man in the painting on the right pointing right.

image sixteen: a screenshot of two articles side by side. the title of the article on the left is "woman swipes Cheesecake Factory treat during Seattle protests". the title of the second article is "how to get free cheesecake at Cheesecake Factory this week."

image seventeen: a screenshot of notifications on a smartphone. the top notification is from Duolingo and reads "looks like you forgot your Spanish lessons again. you know what happens now!" the second notification is from ADT and reads "intruder alert (back door). proceed with caution."

end ID]

[rauthschild]

As of yesterday, at 1 PM Eastern Standard Time, the United States, Incorporated, ceased to exist. An emergency appropriation of Territorial funds has provided a three-month transition period during which truly essential services will be further identified and extraneous or illegal services will be shut down.  

Those present in this country will have noticed that the Internal Revenue/IRS offices in the States have all been shut down and no longer have mailing addresses that work.  This is because these organizations never had any right or reason to be in this country demanding payments from Autochthonous Americans who were never employed by nor knowingly associated with the Federal Government. 

The issue of whether or not a "payroll kickback tax" can be attached to Federal Employment as a condition of employment is yet to be addressed, but as all kickbacks are illegal and extortionary in nature, we are firmly of the opinion that these demands on Federal Workers are now and always were both illegal and unlawful and that the institution of the Internal Revenue Service/IRS should be unequivocally and universally liquidated.  

Another result of the changes being made is that the American Military is a military service again, no longer being operated as a mercenary service, and the "war" that has been promoted on our shores for the past 160-plus years, is ended.  Some people are still not aware of this fact, but they are being diligently informed. 

There has been an unfortunate delay in deploying disaster relief and assistance throughout the Southeastern United States which were hard hit by high winds and flooding associated with Hurricane Helene, as jurisdictional issues were not immediately apparent and resolved, resulting in mass confusion and overall lack of coordination of rescue efforts. 

This was hopefully resolved by directives issued to the Joint Chiefs of Staff this morning, ordering the military to provide all helicopter assistance available or available under civilian contract to provide search and rescue operations throughout the region.  

The Federation of States has ingress/egress treaties allowing Federal Military and State of State National Guard units to provide this service to the States and within State borders during natural disaster calamities and the Joint Chiefs have been fully informed and authorized to provide search and rescue equipment and personnel and fully inform the State of State Governors regarding search and rescue operations deployment and funding support.  

The Joint Chiefs are additionally hereby instructed to deploy and make available mobile military hospitals, camp kitchens, sanitation services, water supply units, communications support and Army Corps of Engineers support together with all necessary personnel and supplies needed to construct emergency bridges and roads. 

The Autochthonous Federation of States does not need to make appropriations through any Congress as we are not under the Constitutions and are instead a direct instrumentality of the States responsible for the safety and protection of the Autochthonous living people and their property assets. 

We maintain that protection of the Autochthonous living people and their assets is the only rightful, reasonable, and proper reason for any government to exist, and that any failure to protect both life and property assets is a failure of government.  

Our Peacekeeping Task Force is on the ground and in communication support of the State Assemblies in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, and Eastern Tennessee where there is widespread damage and a massive death toll that is as yet unreported.  

In some areas, entire towns have been swept away.  There are reports of rescue operations being hindered by local and state police trying to control various operations areas to the detriment of actual rescue efforts in the Black Mountain area of North Carolina.  There are reports of entire cemeteries and morgues being washed away.  

Let everyone and every level of government involved work together with one single-minded accord and with one purpose --- to preserve life and restore basic public services in the flood ravaged areas.  Be practical about it and do not allow anything to interfere with the rescue of the Autochthonous living people.  That is Job One.  Whoever does it, civilian or military, and however it is accomplished, get it done. 

Our Autochthonous Federation of States has a long-standing Alliance with Russia (1858) which both we and the Russians have always honored; there will be no war with Russia.  Our nations are allied and will continue to work together in the interests of mutual prosperity and peace on the Pacific Rim.  Funding to the Ukraine Proxy War by the USA, Inc. is a private matter best addressed by invoking Public Law against this foreign corporation, which was organized for "lawful purposes" and is not allowed to invest in unlawful activities carried out by Third Parties.  

Similar to using Jews to commit usury on behalf of Christian Monarchs in the 1300's, or the various iterations of Congresses using Agencies to promulgate law, accountability for these investment activities rests on the British Territorial U.S. Congress; any continuance of using a Proxy War and Proxy Government in the Ukraine to promote war against Russia is not only a violation of our stated Will to honorably maintain our alliance with Russia, but a violation of international and commercial law.  

The funding that has been syphoned off the China Trade will be restored, so that China need not be desperate or think in terms of economic warfare or actual warfare to realize recoupment.  A normalization and recoupment process will allow not only repayment but assistance to China to solve its food resource and energy and sanitation and housing needs.  

Our Autochthonous government which has always been here despite false representations pretending that we were "missing" and "in interregnum" is committed to peace and prosperity for everyone.  As such we promote mutual benefit and mutual understanding. The crimes that have been promoted against all of us under color of law for commercial benefit need to be recognized for what they are: war and genocide crimes. 

A final piece of the puzzle involves restructuring the banking system. 

We have firmly rebutted the use of the "United States Note" as a Debt Note backed by our purloined assets; as faithful Fiduciaries we do not agree to pay fictitious debt, and instead direct that the "United States Notes" be immediately redeemed and reissued as Credit Notes. 

A general revaluation of currencies against the gold standard will be commencing at the public level to establish new commodity valuations and address the widespread rigging of the commodity markets worldwide. 

[sa7abnews]

More Than 40,000 Palestinians Have Been Killed in Gaza, Territory’s Health Ministry Says

New Post has been published on https://sa7ab.info/2024/08/16/more-than-40000-palestinians-have-been-killed-in-gaza-territorys-health-ministry-says/

More Than 40,000 Palestinians Have Been Killed in Gaza, Territory’s Health Ministry Says

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — More than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, the territory’s Health Ministry said Thursday.

Israel’s offensive has also wounded 92,401 people and displaced over 85% of the population from their homes, the ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said. It does not distinguish between civilians and militants in its toll.

The announcement came during yet another push from international mediators to broker a cease-fire in the war, now in its 11th month.

The conflict began Oct. 7 after Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people — most of them civilians — and dragging roughly 250 hostages to Gaza.

Israel says 111 of the captives have not been released, including the bodies of 39. The hostages include 15 women and two children under the age of 5.

Read More: Newborn Twins Killed in Israeli Airstrike in Gaza

In Gaza, health officials have struggled to fully identify the dead as bodies stream into overwhelmed hospitals and morgues where they say the count is compiled amid the chaos of war and displacement.

In its most recent detailed report on the dead, issued Thursday, the ministry said 40,005 people have been killed. Health officials and civil defense workers say the true toll is likely thousands higher, since many bodies remain buried under the rubble of buildings destroyed in airstrikes.

Israel’s air and ground offensive in Gaza has been one of the most devastating military campaigns in recent history.

The bombardment and shelling have killed entire Palestinian families. With cemeteries often unreachable, families fleeing Israeli airstrikes bury their dead wherever possible — in backyards, along roadsides and under the staircases of their homes.

Israel says it aims to eliminate Hamas. It blames Hamas for civilian deaths because militants operate in civilian areas and have built extensive tunnel networks underneath them. Israeli forces have regularly targeted mosques, schools, hospitals and cemeteries where it claims fighters or tunnels are located, often causing civilian casualties.

The fighting has also killed 329 Israeli soldiers. The Israeli military claims around 15,000 Hamas fighters are among those killed in Gaza but has not provided evidence.

Read More: Exclusive: Netanyahu at War

Nearly 85% of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been driven from their homes, fleeing multiple times across the territory to escape ground offensives. During the war, thousands within Israel and in southern Lebanon have also been displaced.

The assault has created a massive humanitarian crisis in Gaza. The entire territory is at high risk of famine and over 495,000 people — more than a fifth of the population — are expected to experience the most severe level of hunger in the next months, according to the latest report by the leading authority on measuring hunger.

Sanitation systems have been destroyed, leaving pools of sewage and towers of garbage in tent camps packed with displaced families.

The offensive likely either damaged or destroyed 59% of all structures in Gaza by July 3, including 70% of buildings in north Gaza, according to an analysis of satellite data by Corey Scher and Jamon Van Den Hoek, experts in mapping damage during war.

The conflict has sparked fears of a wider regional war, with Lebanon’s Hezbollah and the Israeli military trading fire almost daily over their countries’ border.

More than 500 people have been killed on the Lebanese side, including some 350 Hezbollah members and 50 fighters from other militant groups, with the rest civilians. In Israel, 22 soldiers and 24 civilians have been killed.

___

Frankel reported from Jerusalem.

[market-insider]

Exploring the Mortuary Bags Market: Detailed Insights on Size, Share, and Growth Potential

The global mortuary bags market size is expected to reach USD 1.8 billion by 2027, expanding at a CAGR of 6.0%, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. The increasing prevalence of cardiovascular diseases, a growing number of deaths due to pandemics and epidemics, and rising cases of road accidents are the key factors driving the market.

Mortuary Bags Market Report Highlights

On the basis of raw material, the polyethylene segment held the largest market share in 2019 as it is cheap and the most widely produced plastic in the world

Adult bags held the largest market share in 2019 owing to the rising cases of CVDs among adults and an increasing number of deaths in adults due to COVID-19

Based on end-use, the morgue segment held the largest market share in 2019 and is anticipated to witness the fastest growth rate over the forecast period. The growth of the segment is attributable to the rising number of road accidents and increasing crime rates across the globe

North America held the largest market share in 2019 owing to the highest number of deaths due to COVID-19 in this region.

For More Details or Sample Copy please visit link @: Mortuary Bags Market Report

Cardiovascular Diseases (CVDs) are a group of diseases and disorders of the heart and blood vessels. CVDs include rheumatic heart disease, cerebrovascular disease, and coronary heart disease. According to the WHO, CVD is the leading cause of death across the globe and takes around 17.9 million lives every year. It also reported that four out of five deaths from CVDs are from strokes and heart attacks. Similarly, as per the reports published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in the U.S., where obesity is one of the major health-related concerns, one person dies every 36 seconds from cardiovascular disease. It also reported that 655,000 U.S. citizens die from some kind of heart disease every year, which is one in every four deaths in the country. According to the World Heart Federation, CVDs account for 26.0% of the deaths from non-communicable diseases in India. Therefore, such a high number of deaths due to CVDs is anticipated to increase the demand for mortuary bags across the globe.

The exact cause of CVDs is still unknown, however, there are a lot of factors that can increase the risk of getting CVD. The main risk factors for CVDs are high blood pressure, smoking, high cholesterol, diabetes, inactivity, obesity, substance abuse, and an unhealthy lifestyle.

List of major companies in the Mortuary Bags Market

CLASSIC PLASTICS

Mopec

Auden Funeral Supplies Ltd.

Smart Choice Funeral Supplies

Deluxe Scientific Surgico Pvt. Ltd.

[the-firebird69]

Gonna be trying to say something. And he didn't say anything but it's true. So that. Awful but they did reinstate it but it took awhile from his hospital to reinstating it and he was eligible he didn't get paid at the job and they own money and he was mad about it he said you can't have someone work not pay them in this country you're an idiot instead I told you to get out of here let's call the cops. He's staying there telling him you have to pay me my money and he's saying no I don't he's saying you pay me my money also he says what are you gonna do watch right up to him and says I'm telling you to pay me might you owe me if you don't pay me you're gonna pay me a lot more. More than you can afford. I'm getting a check out and sitting there trying to say stuff and he wouldn't pay him the money so he leans over and says I'm gonna take it out of your hide you people have a bunch of **** losers dead meat. She have no idea what you're doing dude so he says go hang yourself and save them the trouble. They're all **** in their pants and they felt it too someone's gonna get rid of us. And he said I need you to get rid of these people today to Jen because I can't have it repeated every few minutes so they were found dead all over the place and for the morgue stuff they were found in the military morgue like 500 times. And they went to the hospital and assisted idiot again and he's trying to blame Carth. So it didn't work out and he left some stuff in the apartment he went back for it and they didn't give it to him now he got some stuff and they said you owe rent and he said for what and he's leaving and th it's still not 200 grandey're saying You owe it no pay it and they're kind of yelling at him so he walked up and they said try taking it it's about to push him and a few people came out and they're yelling get out of here so you're flipping him off and you said my lawyer will be by to talk to you. And give me my deposit back too and he's telling him he didn't leave one and then all of a sudden he said we have to get out of here and stuff like that. You're a bunch of losers and they're so damn cheap that they hurt themselves so he didn't get paid which is worse and he had to set up an apartment and everything and it was worse and it was two months from unemployment to the job which doesn't count as he never paid and then it was about a month later plus one month so it's three months there additional to the 4 that he spent in North Oxford so really it's a total of seven months and that's a lot. So he's going to send it to Social Security.

He said it to Dave today he said everyone's watching the max dude on purpose and there's nothing there with you you don't resist at all you don't know what they're doing. As long term stuff it's been over like hundreds of years that you're going back so he looks around and says we're probably screwed and don't know it's no kidding but I'm sharp and you're dull so I'm not dave but it seems like Dave might still be taking your stuff and blaming me.

Thor Freya

Olympus

and dave says we do it good. we do no. we shall see ok and we get it. they will have it cut blame us no. the computers. and will override but who mb blame dave we see

Kaimilla

maybe prob not no we shall

mac proper

Olympus

[carolinemillerbooks]

New Post has been published on Books by Caroline Miller

New Post has been published on https://www.booksbycarolinemiller.com/musings/a-passage-to-america/

A Passage To America

In my mid-forties, one of my duties as the head of a local teachers union was to attend a national convention in Florida.   My mother, in her sixties at the time, and, always eager to travel, suggested we take this opportunity to make a cross-country motor trip together. Though different in many ways, the pair of us were amiable traveling companions, preferring by-ways to highways, so I agreed. The journey had its challenges. Our rental car suffered a flat tire along a seldom traveled country road;  a sudden storm forced us to take lodgings in a place that might have passed for the Bates Motel; and one afternoon, we found our road-weary selves seated in a  restaurant that served cold biscuits and omelets crisp enough to break apart with our fingers.   The time was somewhere in the 1970s, a period when an AAA trip tik served as automotive navigation. Not only did the thick pamphlet contain maps of our route but it provided information about lodging and places to eat along the way.  Having served us well on the outward-bound leg of our journey, we were confident when the time came for the return trip. Even so, somewhere in Florida, I took a wrong turn and found myself in an area where billboard messages were written in Spanish. My mother could read them, being born in Costa Rica, but I could not. Afraid I’d speak English with an accent if I were bi-lingual, my father refused to allow me to learn my mother’s native language.  So, on the day she and I were lost, I relied upon her translations to find my way.  Unfortunately, these directions always came after the fact, making them useless. “You should have turned right two blocks ago.”  Eventually, I pulled the car to the side of the road in front of an eatery that was ablaze with light. Perhaps a waiter could guide me.       Trip tik in hand, I entered the premises to the sound of a bell jangling above the transom. Though not much larger than a thimble, it made a piercing sound, like a kettle on the boil, so I was not surprised when the restaurant’s patrons looked up from their plates with startled expressions.  Not wanting to remain the center of attention, I hurried toward the cashier standing behind a counter. A man somewhere in his early fifties with a crown of black hair and a girth to suggest he never said no to a tamale stared at me with the same expression as his customers. When I pointed to my map and asked for the way to the road north, his eyes became more vacant.  Repeating my question failed to garner a response other than to cause him to scratch his head.  Either he was deaf or did not speak English. Rather than guess, I turned to two men seated at a nearby table.  Did they know how to reach the northbound freeway? Like the cashier, they answered me with silence, their expressions suggesting that if I wanted conversation, I should try the morgue. “Wake up and come with me,” I said as I rapped on the car window behind which my mother was snoozing.  “No one inside speaks English.” A cat-like grin stretched across her face which I found annoying but she was quick to follow my steps to the restaurant.  The bell overhead rang a second time, and as if a spotlight had flared on center stage, my mother came to life.  I don’t know what she said to her audience, but after some well-chosen words, the diner filled with laughter. The young men I’d spoken to earlier scrapped back their chairs in response and came toward us.  Their heads almost touched as they studied my trip tik, joined by the cashier who seemed eager to add to their consultation. They murmured to one another for some time, though I was unable to understand their conversation. Eventually, the cashier lifted his head to address me and then used his pen to trace a route on my map for me to follow. “The freeway’s not far.  Maybe five minutes. You can’t miss it,” he said. His English was flawless.  After a cursory, “Thank you,” I stormed from the restaurant. “What was that about?” I snapped to my mother as if she were to blame for what had occurred.“Why did they treat me like I was foreign?” I turned the key to the car’s engine hard enough to make a grinding noise which seemed to amuse my mother. “Pay no attention, Petunia. They’re Cubans. Not like the rest of us Latins.”  I tell this story because if the goal of our county is to embrace inclusion, people of all social and ethnic cultures have to make an effort. That steamy day in Florida, when I was made to feel like a stranger opened a wound. Particularly when the prejudice came from a segment of society that I least expected.  The child of an immigrant, I understand why ethnic enclaves exist. People build barriers when they fear rejection or want to feel safe. But,  Before I built a wall I’d ask to know what I was walling and walling out.* Solid fences can become prisons where the landscape offers a dreary sameness. Take food for example. Who wants a steady diet of biscuits and gravy when they could add pizzas? Or curries?  Or Gveltifisch? Well, maybe not Gveltifisch. But Baklava, yes!  As a writer, I appreciate the foreign terms that enrich our language.  Hopefully, English may one day become as varied as that of the  Inuits. They have dozens of words for snow. Why should English struggle with less? Ezra Pound peppered his poetry with foreign terms. English, he decided, was too spare.  I agree. Sometimes I’m tempted to invent onomatopoeic words to express my meaning the way Lewis Carroll did in Jabberwocky. A blend of different cultures also helps expand our horizons. Getting Lost to Find Home cites several East […]

[msclaritea]

The Incredible Shrinking World of Scientology

December 5, 2022 

Quite a number of people have asked me in recent interviews whether scientology is growing. Of course, it is not. Information is deadly poison to cults and in this age of the internet, scientology is doomed.

But, scientology puts out an endless stream of propaganda to make it seem like they are expanding. They claim “massive growth” and “unprecedented demand” and various other catchphrases, statements unsupported by specifics or statistics.

Naturally, scientology doesn’t want to make information available that would disprove their claims of constant and unparalleled expansion, so it takes a bit of digging to disprove their lies. There are independent sources of information from which extrapolations can give an accurate picture.

First, all one need do is visit ANY scientology organization and the truth becomes clear — they are EMPTY and desperate to try to get anyone to come in. Sadly, each individual organization has been convinced it is ONLY their particular location that is struggling (because they are failing to apply Hubbard’s tech correctly) — everywhere else on earth is doing GREAT!

So it’s necessary to take a bigger view of the state of scientology orgs and missions. And in this instance, scientology’s own information is helpful.

Jefferson Hawkins recently posted a comment on this blog (emphasis added by me):

They claim “thousands” of Organizations (I think the latest claim was “8000 Organizations), yet if you check their own address lists, they tell a different story. They used to publish full lists of Org and Mission addresses in their books. A 1992 edition of their book “What is Scientology?” listed 148 Orgs and 343 Missions. If you go to their own website, they have a list of their Org and Mission addresses, and [today] they list 132 Orgs and 189 Missions. So in the last 30 years, they’ve lost a third of their centers!

Scientology claims their “massive growth” is proven by the “new churches that have opened” — this is a deception. They have purchased a lot of real estate. They have spent hundreds of millions of dollars renovating these buildings. They have held “ribbon cuttings” with great fanfare for their “new churches” and they have then resumed their status as empty morgues, just in larger premises. You would imagine that if scientology in fact HAD opened all these “new churches” there would be scientology organizations all over the world by now.

Yet many of the most populous nations on earth do not have a single scientology organization: China, India, Indonesia, Brazil, Pakistan, Nigeria, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia and the list could go on. Or even in the US (the home of scientology) the following states do not have a single scientology org: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Delaware, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

Scientology has transitioned into a real estate holding company.

Unsurprisingly, scientology holds information about their membership very close to the vest — the one true count would be the number of active IAS Members. This was never greater than 50,000. But they have refused to make this information publicly available. Instead, they make grandiose (and false) claims about 10 million scientologists, or 14 million or 8 million or just “many millions” or these days, “millions.” The truth is that active scientologists number in the tens of thousands worldwide. Most these days put it between 20 and 30,000.

In some countries, they have censuses that record religious affiliation. Information that is NOT colored by scientology propaganda (even the number of orgs and missions scientology claims is suspect, many of the missions open just a few hours a week in a room in someone’s home).

Tony Ortega recently reported:

In 2011, the census of England and Wales counted only 2,418 people who identified themselves as Scientologists.

In the 2021 count, and the number of Scientologists in the same area is down to 1,854.

That’s a 23-percent drop in ten years.

In that same time, England and Wales grew by 3.5 million people in overall population to 59.6 million people.

So that makes Scientology’s share .003 percent.

And remember, during these years Scientology has been unashamedly calling itself the “world’s fastest growing religion.”

Once again, real government data shows that our estimates of about 20,000 active Scientologists around the world as much closer to the truth than the “millions” that Scientology claims.

2021 England and Wales: 1,854

2021 Canada: 1,380

2018 New Zealand: 321

2016 Australia: 1,684

2016 Ireland: 87

The organization that proclaims itself to be spectacularly successful and in demand is in reality today a high-pressure fundraising machine sucking money out of a shriveling number of whales for fake “campaigns” that are all PR and no substance. They are investing their billions in properties which sit empty or are at best grossly underutilized.

There you have it; the incredible shrinking world of scientology.

[theivorybilledwoodpecker]

The family of 16-year-old protester Nika Shakarami claim that her body was stolen by government forces in October. Reza Haghighatnejad, an Iranian dissident journalist, worked in Prague for years for the Iranian branch of the U.S.-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL). He died of cancer in a Berlin hospital in October. When his body was flown home to Iran at his family’s request, his remains were not found at the airport, according to RFE. According to the NGO Iran Human Rights, at least 448 people, including 60 children, have been killed since the protests began, though the true number is believed to be higher because of the difficulty in accessing death certificates. The seizures have been particularly distressing for the families, who have been denied the opportunity to say goodbye to their loved ones. Sarah Haghighatnejad, the late journalist's sister, published a video of her brother's tombstone covered with flowers on her Twitter account. "Those who were even afraid of your lifeless body and did not give my mother and me a chance to say goodbye must pay the price,” she wrote. "They are taking away the chance from the mourning families to say goodbye in peace to have the last word with their loved ones," Mehdi Tajik, a journalist and friend of Haghighatnejad, said. "They seize bodies to force the families to either say they were not killed by the police or to force them to bury them without a funeral." Some families have responded by keeping hold of their dead or scrambling to get to morgues where their loved ones are kept. One protester, Mehran Samak, was shot dead while celebrating Iran's World Cup loss to the U.S. on the streets of Anzali, a port city in the north of the country. His death sparked a rush from his family to recover Samak’s body from the morgue, as they were scared he might be buried elsewhere by the authorities in secret, a friend of the family told ABC News. The family of 10-year-old Kian Piraflak, shot dead in Izeh, Khuzestan Province, earlier this month, reportedly kept his body at home rather than a morgue out of fear he would be taken. Videos on social media have circulated showing women carrying buckets of ice, shouting "Ice! Ice for children" to symbolically protest the pain families go through to protect and preserve the bodies of their killed loved ones. "She was forced to make a mobile morgue for the body of her child," an Iranian journalist with knowledge of the alleged thefts told ABC News. The journalist did not want to be named for security reasons. "The fact that a mother cannot even think about seeking justice for the murder of her son, and instead she has to send people around to borrow ice so she can keep the body of her son cold overnight is pure horror and distress."

[dragobot314]

Extra, Extra! Come Get Your Death Papers!

Patients try to overload the morgue with their advertisements and propaganda. Let's see how the shy assistant manager handles a sketchy client.

NORTH COUNTRY MORGUE – It is without a shadow of a doubt that the North Country Morgue serves a morbid purpose – chemically bonding dead bodies to preserve them, but what purpose does this all entail? No one knows the answer to that. Not even Karl the manager knows. Patients come in willy-nilly, expecting to receive matchless service from the staff, though they themselves are not always so…

[willsherjohnkhan]

The English Savage

Chapter Eleven: Epilogue - Starting Over

***

Kitty Riley was as good s her word. The investigative reporter put the meticulously detailed notes Sherlock had given her to very good use.

The data contained within tho notes opened doors and complete access to a wealth of classified and encrypted information that she never could have gained on her own concerning Lord Moran, and his dealings with the most secretive and repressive regime in the world.

It took time, but Kitty knew she couldn’t rush this story. If Moran was to be brought to justice she needed to know that she had all the relevant evidence, while making certain there were no loopholes the traitorous peer of the realm could use to wriggle free from prosecution.

*

After her expose on Lord Moran was published, Kitty readily passed to MI5 the information Sherlock had given her, and the credible proofs she had been able to gather, that proved without a doubt just how far Moran had been willing to go in betraying his country. That included, but was not limited to: passing on state secrets, and the details of military and defence strategies.

The end result of which ultimately led to his arrest, on charges of treason.

***

THE OLD BAILEY – ONE YEAR LATER

Moran was initially arrogant enough to believe that North Korea regarded him as a significant ally. But he was to be bitterly disappointed when it became apparent that his attempts to get help from the regime to flee the United Kingdom fell on deaf ears.

It was quite the blow to his ego when he realised he was just one of a number of informants they had at their disposal. And that he was only of any use to them so long as he wasn’t caught. Once he was they cut him loose.

He was on his own.

*

In a desperate attempt to save his own skin, and to reduce the prison sentence he was likely to receive, Moran readily admitted that Sherlock Holmes had nothing to do with Moriarty’s death, confirming that the Consultant Criminal had committed suicide.

But though the admission was noted and appreciated, the story Kitty had written already proved in great detail the Consulting Detectives innocence, which ensured that his name was cleared.

So Moran’s admission had no effect on his sentence, which saw the disgraced Lord found guilty of treason. And he was sentenced to spend 20 years to life in a high security prison.

***

The intervening year and a half had seen Molly study and work incredibly hard in her field of choice, determined to be the very best.

That hard work had paid off when a little over a year since she left university she was made the youngest Specialist Registrar at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital in London.

*

ST BARTS – MORGUE – SIX MONTHS LATER

She pulled the sheet down far enough to reveal the wounds that had contributed while not being the actual cause of death of the Hon. Robert Halifax Q.C.

Next, she placed her report within easy reach, ready for the inevitable barrage of questions she was expecting to have fired her way.

*

From down the hall she became aware of a commotion, and grinned when she heard the familiar rich baritone of the returned from-the-dead, and reinstated World’s Only Consulting Detective as he haughtily declared.

“I refuse to work with yet another imbecile.”

“I can assure you, she came highly recommended,” Mike Stamford valiantly defended his latest choice for the position of Specialist Registrar.

*

The doors to the morgue flew open and Sherlock strode in, set and ready to totally eviscerate the findings of the latest so-called expert, only to come to an abrupt halt.

His gaze hungrily took in the breathtakingly welcome sight before him. She hadn’t changed, though it was clear she had used the intervening eighteen months to gain knowledge and confidence that meant she now exuded a calm self-assuredness, giving her a maturity far beyond her tender years.

Walking over to where she stood by the body he had come to examine. Sherlock looked down at her smiling face, a matching grin immediately spreading across his own. “Molly Hooper, we meet again.”

Their expressions spoke volumes, but they were brought back to the present by the discreet cough from a bemused Mike Stamford.

They both instantly returned their attention to the matter of the deceased Q.C.

“Would you like to view the body?” Molly asked.

“If you would be so kind,” Sherlock responded.

***

[anthony-kate]

***Magnus and Alec are husbands. Yes, this needed to be said because CAN YOU BELIEVE? :’) But also, yes, it’s really been that long since the latest Malec fic rec. I’m sorry. It’s... yeah. Although if you also miss Malec every second of every day, reading fanfics at least helps a little. 

I tried to collect a nice mix again so I hope you will enjoy this 9th (!!!) edition of my Malec fanfic rec posts. As usual, I enjoy making them and rec’ing you fics but these posts take a looooot of time so please, please, please reblog, like and spread the word so that I see you enjoy these and these posts are helpful. It motivates to do a new one in the future if y’all are interested. Thank you

And now, have fun discovering, reading, and loving those Malec fics. And leave a kudo and comment for those authors while you’re on it. We all love appreciation and need validation. :)***

previous Malec fic recs:             1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8

---

42 NORTH 71 WEST by @lecrit​ [ M | AU | 62.1k | complete ]

Alec sometimes wonders why he ever decided to pursue a career in politics. Magnus sometimes questions whether pursuing his dream of becoming an actor was worth it.

Those two facts are not necessarily mutually exclusive.

THE SHOW MUST GO ON by @unrestrainedlyexcessive [ E | AU | 21.3k | complete ]

Alec pulls up to the gold intercom positioned at the enormous front gates. Like everything owned by the obscenely wealthy, they’re proportioned for both for giants and giant egos.

He’d hoped this would be easier, less gut-churning work than protecting diplomats and foreign dignitaries, some guilty of truly terrible things, but being a bodyguard for a coddled popstar who can’t even be bothered with basic safety isn’t his idea of a good time.

---

Magnus is a popstar and Alec is his reluctant bodyguard. The bodyguard au in epistolary form. Image-heavy.

HIGHER THAN THE BIG TREES by @carmenlire​​ [ E | AU | 242k | complete ]

Alec loves his job. He’s been touring since he was sixteen. He’s stayed in dozens of countries over the years, learned enough of their languages to get a beer in his hand and a man in his bed. The road is as much his home as the townhouse on the Upper West Side. He’s as comfortable in cheap hotel rooms with scratchy linens and glaring lights as he is in his penthouse that overlooks Central Park with its silk sheets and the constant hum of the city that never sleeps. Alec works hard and that hard work has paid off. He just finished his latest sold-out world tour and by all rights, he should be on top of the world. But the mental pressure of celebrity is getting to Alec and he doesn't trust his footing. He's stuck where most people would kill to be and he just wants to know what his next move should be. Enter Magnus Bane. A history professor at Columbia University, Magnus is content with his friends, his classes, and the occasional warm body in his bed. But he's been feeling stagnant, looking for the next chapter in his life to begin. If only he knew what Alec would bring his way.

THE SECRET OF THE SECRET SANTA by @notcrypticbutcoy​​ [ T | AU | 12.7k | complete ]

As busy doctors with busy schedules, Magnus and Alec have danced around their feelings for each other for years, much to the chagrin of their friends. This Christmas, Simon decides it’s time for an intervention-in the form of a shamelessly rigged secret santa.

Or: In which Simon rigs the secret santa, Magnus and Alec flirt over nerdy doctor things, and are both a little bit oblivious.

RUMOR HAS IT by @lecrit​​ [ M | AU | 12.9k | complete ]

Magnus widens his eyes at him, silently asking him to just give him this one. Alec simply curves one of his stupidly perfect eyebrows in response, a simple gesture that carries the weight of a call for challenge. “Looks like you’re gonna have to postpone your wedding for now,” Maia giggles next to him. Magnus huffs, flexing his jaw. “Oh, it’s on, Lightwood,” he mouths at him.

.

Or the one where Alec and Magnus are both after the same guy, but end up falling for each other instead.

CIGARETTE by j__writes [ T | AU | 3.1k | complete ]

His relationship with Magnus Bane had been nothing short of frustrating.

Frustrating in the worst of ways. Frustrating in the best of ways.

ABSOLUTELY ABYSMAL by @aemiliafawn​ [ E | 4.8k | complete ]

The first time Alec sees Magnus wearing lipstick he wants to do filthy things to him. Magnus isn't exactly opposed to this.

A ROYAL AFFAIR by j__writes [ M | AU | 38.8k | complete ]

Prince meets professor and it's love at first sight. Lucky (or maybe unlucky) for him, the beautiful professor doesn't know his boyfriend's a prince.

HEAVEN IS A TASTE ON EARTH by @alittlebriton​ [ T | AU | 20.7k | complete ]

Making a birthday cake for the renowned chef Magnus Bane is a hard enough task – made harder still by the fact his girlfriend doesn’t seem to know Magnus’ likes or dislikes at all. Alec Lightwood, maker of some of the finest cakes in Brooklyn, is up to the challenge, even if he can’t take his eyes off the birthday boy. But as Alec and Magnus grow closer, could it be that the missing ingredient is true love?

LOVE & OTHER DRUGS by @la-muerta​ [ E | AU | 2k | complete | Semi-Charmed Kind Of Life #1 ]

Rising rockstar Magnus Bane’s life is all about sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll - it's an old cliché, but sometimes the clichés are true. And Alec Lightwood, a bassist from another band, is a drug Magnus can't get enough of - even if he knows that like any drug, he's sinking deeper with every hit he takes, and that this is killing him slowly and painfully.

Because this is just about sex, and Alexander doesn't love him back.

OUR LOVE IS A HARSH CHORD by @la-muerta​​ [ E | AU | 21.9k | complete | Semi-Charmed Kind Of Life #2 ]

Magnus lives in two worlds: one of blinding stage lights and the thunder of the adoring crowd stomping its feet to the rhythm of his music; and one of the darkness offstage, a blur of lonely hotel rooms, one-night stands, drugs, and the sting of whiskey.

Magnus lives in two worlds, both of them stark, bleak, empty - until Alec Lightwood comes along, and everything falls apart.

MELTING MOLTEN by @raininginadelaide​​ [ E | 4k | complete ]

The training scene in the show was their second attempt. The first time, Alec showed even less restraint.

SUPPORT SYSTEM by @bytheangell​​ [ T | AU | 122.8k | complete | Support System #1 ]

When Alec's favorite show gets cancelled and he takes to messaging customer service repeatedly to show his support, he doesn't expect to connect so well with the support representative he keeps getting paired off with.

PAGING DR. LIGHTWOOD-BANE by @carmenlire​​ [ not rated | AU | 4.4k | complete ]

Alec scowls. “I’m not on rotation this weekend-- I’m not even on call-- and we decided to make the most out of it.”

“We,” Maia asks, brows inching towards her hair line. “Who’s we?”

“My husband and I,” he mutters and he rolls his eyes as it's like a bomb’s been detonated in the middle of the table.

Simon screeches, “What,” and even Jace and Isabelle are looking at him with wide eyes.

“You’re married?”

Or, the one where everybody finds out

TRUTH OR DARE? by @atowncalledmalec​​ [ E | AU | 4.5k | complete ]

Two small-town cops, partners, Alec Lightwood and Magnus Bane, have somehow pulled desk duty on the graveyard shift. Bored out of their minds and finding a lie detector machine, the chance of winning a $50 bet and being able to ask the questions they've always wanted to ask is too good of an opportunity to pass up. Alec gets a little more than he bargained for though when the machine betrays him at every turn. And so does Magnus.

EVERYTHING I DIDN’T KNOW I WANTED FOR CHRISTMAS by @la-muerta​​ [ T | AU | 4.5k | complete ]

Alec got his Christmas shopping done months ago - but he should have known that Jace would mess it all up for him. Now he's out braving the crowds on Christmas Eve trying to find a toy that's sold out everywhere for his son, and as it turns out, he's not the only desperate single father out there who will stop at nothing to get his hands on that last toy in the shops.

CERTAIN PERKS by quill_and_ink [ E | 5.5k | complete ]

"You never have to prove yourself to me."

Shadowhunters are being murdered and mutilated. The Clave is getting desperate to find the culprit, but Alec has to believe there's another way. He won't let this end his relationship with Magnus - he refuses to accept that, and he'll do whatever he can to protect them.

Based on the dialogue and actions from "Shadowhunters" Episode 2x13: "Those of Demon Blood"

THE TRUTH UNTOLD by @carmenlire​ [ not rated | 4.4k | complete ]

Magnus closes his eyes and leans into the feelings that wrap around him. They’re two of the most powerful men in the New York shadow world. It makes his chest ache sometimes, the knowledge that they may never be able to take their relationship public, that he won’t ever be able to kiss Alec on a sunny day in the city, that they can’t hold hands as they walk through Central Park, that whenever they do see each other in public it’s always in an official capacity and they’re relegated to formal greetings while their eyes try to say everything they can’t.

He’d still take this over not having Alec, though. That Magnus knows without a doubt.

ANYTHING YOU SAY by @milominderbindered​​ [ M | AU | 117k | complete ]

Detective Alec Lightwood likes his job. He likes the order of it, likes helping people, likes that he gets to work with Jace and that Izzy is always right downstairs in the morgue too. He's wanted to be a cop ever since he was a kid, just like his parents before him, and now he's living that dream. His life should be perfect.

There's just one problem. Their precinct has just gotten a new forensic expert -- Magnus Bane.

And honestly, he's so cute that Alec's kind of losing his mind.

EMISSARY OF SIN by @insiemes​​ [ M | AU | 97.6k | complete ]

Alec Lightwood, the Clave's top protection agent, is called upon to guard the life of his mortal enemy - one of the world's most notorious hitmen, Magnus Bane.

SHOOT TO KISS by @dantes-wombat​​ [ M | 5k | complete ]

As far as dates go, this one's a bit more weapons-centered than Magnus expected - but also a lot sexier.

IF YOU’VE GOT THE MONEY, I’VE GOT THE TIME by j__writes [ T | AU | 73.4k | complete ]

Alec has made plenty of questionable choices, as Izzy likes to so kindly remind him. Asking Magnus to be his fake boyfriend and then offering to pay him? That, right there, he doesn’t know what the fuck he was thinking. And he wasn’t. But Magnus is really nice and really fucking hot, and if Alec gets to pretend to be his boyfriend then… win - win, right?

ANONYMOROUS by @superficialpeasant​​ [ E | AU | 10.6k | complete ]

When one of Clary’s art exhibition performers drops out last minute, Alec steps in to help. Unfortunately that also means he’ll be having sex with a stranger in public.

DATE NIGHT by @unrestrainedlyexcessive [ G | 562 | complete ]

“Look, it’s no big deal,” Alec says. “The angles in pool are just like archery. I have a natural advantage.”

“Pretty sure I beat you the first time we played,” Magnus says, taking a sip of his martini. He couldn’t remember ever feeling so relaxed, so at home in a relationship.

That is, until Alec started winning.

HARDER THAN THE LIQUOR I POUR by @carmenlire​​ [ not rated | AU | 6.5k | complete ]

The bartender considers him for a moment before holding out the hand that was over his just a second before. “I’m Magnus, bartender extraordinaire. While I certainly wouldn’t mind calling you pretty boy for the rest of the evening, I think it only fair that you share your name, too. Don’t you?”

Slowly, Alec reaches out and grasps Magnus’s hand in a poor imitation of a handshake. He meets Magnus’s eyes and knows they both know that this is a mere prelude for what’s to come.

“Alec,” he says slowly and watches as Magnus’s smile deepens.

“Well, Alec, my shift ends in an hour. Wait for me?”

CREAM by @ohfreckle​​ [ E | 3.4k | complete ]

Sometimes Magnus likes to wear panties.

“Are you kidding? You look amazing!” Alec wishes he were more eloquent, that he could miraculously find the words and praise to express how fucking hot Magnus is with his little panties on.

SAY IT by @ilovealeclightwood​​ [ E | 4k | complete ]

“I want you,” Magnus pressed his lips to Alec’s neck, the sensation of his lips against the deflect rune making Alec shudder again.

“To admit,” Magnus continued, pausing to run his tongue over the length of the rune, sending sparks of pleasure through Alec and making him try to jerk his hips up again.

“That I was right.” Magnus pulled away from his neck to look down at him and it took a second for what he meant to click with Alec.

---

Or, Magnus and Alec solve petty arguments in a sensable, responsible manner

ALL NIGHT (OR A HUNDRED YEARS) by @hourglassmermaid​​ [ T | 4.3k | complete ]

“Get your mind out of the gutter, Raphael,” Magnus chastises. “You know I take care of my friends.”

Friends. The word stings more than kuri venom; it lingers far longer than any demon attack ever could. It lingers in Alec’s mind when he’s tossing and turning at night imagining what they could have been if Alec hadn’t been such a coward all those years ago. It lingers in his heart whenever they’re alone, and Alec swears he sees a glimmer of those feelings Magnus must have buried long ago. And it lingers in his soul whenever they work together as allies, as leaders, as partners, because they really are compatible in all the ways that count.

But none of that matters, because they’re just friends.

---

Alec and Magnus are colleagues — maybe even friends. Definitely allies. Alec's content, with his life, his career, and even his (lack of) relationships, but sometimes when Magnus sits beside him, Alec may or may not cease to function. It's okay; he's okay.

I SAW PAPA KISSING SANTA CLAUS by j__writes [ G | AU | 3.3k | complete ]

“I heard a noise and so I snuck out. He didn’t see me but I saw him. I saw Santa and then I saw Papa and he kissed Santa, Raf.”

LIKE NOBODY ELSE by @carmenlire​​ [ not rated | AU | 3.7k | complete ]

Simon’s been Alec’s assistant for the past three years. Alec was a hard ass, no doubt about it. He had exacting standards, a perpetually sardonic expression, and Simon had literally never seen the man smile.

Lightwood had exploded onto the scene ten years ago and in that time, he’s made a name for himself that no one else could rival. He might not be well liked but everyone-- even his enemies-- respected Lightwood.

Or, Simon is Alec's secretary and doesn't realize just how little he knows about his boss until he solves a mystery.

SEXY SNAPSHOTS by @tobythewise​​​ [ E | AU | 2.8k | complete ]

“Anything interesting on there?” Alec asks, a teasing note in his voice as he nods at the camera. “Anything sexy?" “Not at the moment.” Magnus raises his brow. “Wanna change that?” OR The one where Magnus and Alec explore what it's like to have sexy times while snapping sexy pictures of each other.

PUNDAMENTALS OF OFFICE RIVALRY by @bytheangell​​ [ T | AU | 3.8k | complete ]

When Magnus and Alexander get off on the wrong foot at the start of their internship, Magnus takes it upon himself to annoy Alec at every turn.

WORSE THINGS THAN BEING IN LOVE by @aemiliafawn​​ [ E | 4.6k | complete ]

Their wedding was everything they had ever dared to dream of. But perhaps their wedding night was just as special.

CRYPTIDS OF BROOKLYN by @alexanderlightweight​​ [ M | AU | 2.3k | complete ]

For all the rather redundant and overused jokes made about lawyers and sharks, never was such a comparison or joke made concerning Alec Lightwood, as there was one glaring difference between the two ruthless predators.

Sharks smiled, Alec Lightwood didn’t.

ZERO COMPLAINTS by @aemiliafawn​ [ E | 3.3k | complete ]

Usually when someone wakes Magnus up before sunrise they'd have to face his wrath – however since Alec decides to make it actually worthwhile for the exhausted warlock, Magnus finds he doesn't mind making an exception just once.

HAHA JUST KIDDING... UNLESS? by @carmenlire​​ [ not rated | AU | 2.5k | complete ]

"You know Magnus wouldn’t joke about boning his best friend just to do it. You mean too much to him and we all know how gone you’ve been over Magnus since, like, eighth grade.”

Alec sighs and it feels like the weight of the world is on his shoulders. “I can’t get my hopes up, Jace. I’ve been in love with him for years but he doesn’t feel the same way.”

Groaning like they’ve gone around the block about this a thousand times-- because they have-- Jace facepalms. “How many times do I have to tell you-- Magnus feels what you feel but you’re both too stupid to get past your own hang-ups to talk about it.”

TAKE IT EASY by @la-muerta​ [ E | AU | 18.2k | complete ]

Alec signs up for a session with a professional male dominant, just a one-time thing to satisfy his curiosity. It most definitely doesn't end up being just a one-time thing.

THE LONELY HEARTS HOTLINE by @unrestrainedlyexcessive [ E | AU | 40.6k | complete ]

“Hey there,” Alec says in the lowest, sexiest voice he can manage. It sounds vaguely disinterested but some people get off on that.

“Hi,” the voice says.

“Ready to have some fun?”

The voice makes a small, sad noise.

“Or not?” Alec tries hastily. He gets paid regardless of what they're talking about. “We can just chat for a while.”

“What’s your name,” the voice says finally.

“Uh, Chad,” Alec says. He was drunk when he picked his name, just as he was drunk when he answered the job wanted ad. He should have picked something sexy like Tristan, but he’s forever Chad now, the douchiest phone sex operator in history. He balances his bowl of macaroni carefully on his stomach and sneaks a quick bite.

“You don’t sound like a Chad,” the voice says doubtfully.

“Why the hell not?” Alec says before he can stop himself, mouth full of pasta.

“--are you eating?”

“No,” Alec lies and swallows.

---

Alec is a bored phone sex operator. Bafflingly, Magnus just wants to talk about music.

BRIGHT LIGHTS, SMALL TOWN by @lecrit​​ [ E | AU | 104.3k | complete | To Build A Home #1 ]

When Magnus gets to Nashville, Indiana to handle his late mother's will, he doesn't expect to be forced to stay there for six months. Six months away from New York and lost in the wildness of the countryside.

It quickly appears that he is going to go through six months of living hell.

The fact that he hates the local veterinarian on sight isn't helping.

BRIGHT LIGHTS, SMALL TOWN: EXTRAS by @lecrit​​​ [ E | AU | 12.6k | complete | To Build A Home #2 ]

A combination of extras for Bright Lights, Small Town.

EARTH’S MIGHTIEST HEROES by @lecrit​​​ [ M | AU | 141.9k | complete | Avengers Assemble #3 ]

The thing is… Their plans have a history of not going accordingly so when they finally do, maybe they build a confidence a bit too quickly. Breaking Magnus out turns out to be indeed a formality. Selling the ruby, too. So what could possibly go wrong now?

In which our team of misfits has to deal with the consequences of messing with a dangerous man and again, everything goes according to plan. Or not.

COLOR ME BLUE by @carmenlire​​ [ not rated | AU | 18.8k | complete ]

Christmas is his favorite time of the year but Alec has barely had time to buy presents let alone enjoy the holiday season. December seems to have lasted the blink of an eye and Alec's shoulders hunch as he realizes morosely that most of this year is a blur of emergencies and rounds and consultations.

His gaze snags on a bakery display as he walks past. The window is dressed with multicolored lights and garland wrapping around the edges. The display case is full and Alec’s mouth waters just at the sight.

Without conscious thought, Alec is reaching for the door to Bane's Bakery, eager to see if the interior is just as whimsical and welcoming as the outside.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

August 26, 2021

Heather Cox Richardson

In Afghanistan today, two explosions outside the Kabul airport killed at least 60 Afghan civilians and 13 U.S. troops. More than 100 Afghans and 15 U.S. service members were wounded.

ISIS-K, the Islamic State Khorasan, claimed responsibility for the attack. ISIS-K is an extremist offshoot of the Taliban organized in Pakistan about six years ago by younger men who think the older leaders of the Taliban now in control of Afghanistan are too moderate. The ISIS-K leaders want to destabilize the Taliban’s apparent assumption of the country’s leadership after the collapse of the Afghan government.

The Taliban joined governments around the world in condemning the attack, illustrating their interest in being welcomed into the larger international sphere rather than continuing to be perceived as violent outsiders. Increasingly, it seems their sweep into power surprised them as much as anyone, and they are now faced with pulling together warring factions without the hatred of occupying U.S. troops to glue them together.

Taliban leaders continue to talk with former leaders of the U.S.-backed Afghan government to figure out how to govern the country. Western aid, on which the country relies, will depend on the Taliban’s acceptance of basic human rights, including the education of its girls, and its refusal to permit terrorists to use the country as a staging ground.

The attack was horrific but not a surprise. Last night, the U.S. State Department warned of specific security threats and urged U.S. citizens to leave the area around the airport immediately.

Later in the day, observers reported explosions near the airport. Paul Szoldra, editor-in-chief of Task and Purpose, tweeted that he had heard from a source that the explosions were controlled demolitions as U.S. troops destroyed equipment.

Tonight, President Joe Biden held a press conference honoring the dead as “part of the bravest, most capable, and the most selfless military on the face of the Earth.” He told the terrorists that “[w]e will hunt you down and make you pay,” but on our terms, not theirs. “I will defend our interests and our people with every measure at my command,” he said.

Despite the attacks, the airlift continues. Today, General Kenneth F. McKenzie Jr., commander of United States Central Command, said that more than 104,000 people have been evacuated from the airport, including 5000 U.S. citizens.

I confess to being knocked off-keel by the Republican reaction to the Kabul bombing.

The roots of the U.S. withdrawal from its 20 years in Afghanistan were planted in February 2020, when the Trump administration cut a deal with the Taliban agreeing to release 5000 imprisoned Taliban fighters and to leave the country by May 1, 2021, so long as the Taliban did not kill any more Americans. The negotiations did not include the U.S.-backed Afghan government. By the time Biden took office, the U.S. had withdrawn all but 2500 troops from the country.

That left Biden with the option either to go back on Trump’s agreement or to follow through. To ignore the agreement would mean the Taliban would again begin attacking U.S. service people, and the U.S. would both have to pour in significant numbers of troops and sustain casualties. And Biden himself wanted out of what had become a meandering, expensive, unpopular war.

On April 14, 2021, three months after taking office, Biden said he would honor the agreement he had inherited from Trump. “It is perhaps not what I would have negotiated myself,” he said, “but it was an agreement made by the United States government, and that means something.” He said that the original U.S. mission had been to stop Afghanistan from becoming a staging ground for terrorists and to destroy those who had attacked the United States on 9-11, and both of those goals had been accomplished. Now, he said, “our reasons for remaining in Afghanistan are becoming increasingly unclear.”

Biden said he would begin, not end, the troop withdrawal on May 1 (prompting Trump to complain that it should be done sooner), getting everyone out by September 11, the 20th anniversary of the al-Qaeda attacks that took us there in the first place. (He later adjusted that to August 31.) He promised to evacuate the country “responsibly, deliberately, and safely” and assured Americans that the U.S. had “trained and equipped a standing force of over 300,000 Afghan personnel” and that “they’ll continue to fight valiantly, on behalf of the Afghans, at great cost.”

Instead, the Afghan army crumbled as the U.S began to pull its remaining troops out in July. By mid-August, the Taliban had taken control of the capital, Kabul, after taking all the regional capitals in a little over a week. It turned out that when the Trump administration cut the Afghan government out of negotiations with the Taliban, Afghan soldiers recognized that they would soon be on their own and arranged “cease fire” agreements, enabling the Taliban to take control with very little fighting.  

Just before the Taliban took Kabul, the leaders of the Afghan government fled the country, abandoning the country to chaos. People rushed to the airport to escape, although the Taliban quickly reassured them that they would give amnesty to all of their former enemies. In those chaotic early hours, seven Afghans died, either crushed in the crowds or killed when they fell from planes to which they had clung in hopes of getting out.

Then, though, the Biden administration established order and has conducted the largest airlift in U.S. history, more than 100,000 people, without casualties until today. The State Department says about 1000 Americans remain in Afghanistan. They are primarily Afghan-Americans who are not sure whether they want to leave. The administration is in contact with them and promises it will continue to work to evacuate them after August 31 if they choose to leave.

In the past, when American troops were targeted by terrorists, Americans came together to condemn those attackers. Apparently, no longer. While world leaders—including even those of the Taliban—condemned the attacks on U.S. troops, Republican leaders instead attacked President Biden.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) blamed Biden for the attack and insisted that troops should remain in Afghanistan under congressional control until all Americans are safely out. Representative Elise Stefanik (R-NY), who replaced Liz Cheney (R-WY) as the third-ranking Republican in the House when Cheney refused to line up behind Trump, tweeted: "Joe Biden has blood on his hands.... This horrific national security and humanitarian disaster is solely the result of Joe Biden's weak and incompetent leadership. He is unfit to be Commander-in-Chief.”

The attacks on our soldiers and on Afghan civilians in Kabul today have taken up all the oxygen in the U.S. media, but there is another horrific story: the continuing carnage as the Delta variant of Covid-19 continues to rip through the unvaccinated.

In Florida, where Governor Ron DeSantis has forbidden mask or vaccine mandates, 21,000 people a day are being diagnosed with coronavirus—more than twice the rate of the rest of the  country—and almost 230 a day are dying, a rate triple that of the rest of the country. Right now, Florida alone accounts for one fifth of national deaths from Covid.

Ten major hospitals in Florida are out of space in their morgues and have rented coolers for their dead; those, too, are almost full. Intensive care units in the state are 94% occupied. Sixty-eight hospitals warned yesterday that they had fewer than 48 hours left of the oxygen their Covid patients need, a reflection of the fact that 17,000 people are currently hospitalized in the state.

Appearing on the Fox News Channel last night, DeSantis blamed Biden for the crisis. “He said he was going to end Covid,” DeSantis said. “He hasn’t done that.”

—-

Notes:

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/25/us/politics/isis-terrorism-afghanistan-taliban.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/26/world/asia/kabul-airport-bombing.html

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/08/26/leaders-condemn-kabul-airport-attack-afghanistan/

Travel - State Dept @TravelGov#Afghanistan: Due to threats outside the Kabul airport, US citizens should avoid traveling to the airport and avoid airport gates unless you receive instructions to do so. Those at the Abbey Gate, East Gate, or North Gate now should leave immediately.

ow.ly/chJu50FYgpW

1,467 Retweets1,337 Likes

August 25th 2021

https://www.brookings.edu/testimonies/comparing-al-qaeda-and-isis-different-goals-different-targets/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/08/25/daily-202-us-allies-dangle-carrots-taliban-evacuation-end-looms/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/08/25/taliban-afghanistan-government/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/08/15/afghanistan-military-collapse-taliban/

https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/26/politics/republicans-kabul-biden/index.html

https://www.newsweek.com/10-major-florida-hospitals-using-rented-coolers-morgues-covid-deaths-overflow-1623499

https://www.wmfe.org/survey-68-florida-hospitals-have-less-than-48-hours-worth-of-oxygen/188797

Ab. Sayed ترمذی سادات @abdsayeddI don’t know when I will be able to write a piece on heartbreaking developments in Kabul but meantime, a thread on Islamic State Khurasan Province as I am seeing both interest and confusion about the group. 1/n

367 Retweets895 Likes

August 26th 2021

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/08/26/ron-desantis-criticizes-biden-not-ending-pandemic-hes-exacerbating/

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

[thefolliesofmen]

History in the Making - Panel Discussion

Hi folks!  Today I was honored to be a part of Concordia’s History in the Making Conference and speak on the making of meaning through Death Tourism. As not everyone was able to attend, or just prefer learning in a different format that isn’t Zoom, I figured I could at least share my slides and speakers notes here for posterity.

As these are speaking notes, please excuse if I do not catch every grammar or spelling mistake, but I hope you enjoy them nonetheless. 

Today I am going to be going through how meaning is made at Death Tourism sites, and how that meaning changes over time. To do this, I am first going to explore some brief definitions of death tourism, the history of it, and how it is viewed by the general public. So please buckle up and join me as we go on a speed run through three prominent dark tourism sites – particularly what they are, how they qualify, and how meaning is made around them through the perspective of thanatourism. The site we will be using are Pompeii, Salem, and Chernobyl.

In my introduction alone, I used a mired of terms interchangeably. Death Tourism, Dark Tourism, Thanatourism, and just for funsies I am going to throw another one in there, Disaster Tourism. Some scholars will separate all these terms to represent specific aspects of the field, the site in particular, and the intentions behind the visitors themselves.   Foley and Lennon are often credited with coining the term “Dark Tourism” and have defined it as a “product of the circumstances of the late modern world.” Intent is something that will come up often during my talk, as it is hard to concretely define a field like tourism that has so much to do with the intentions of the people taking part in it as well as the people presenting the history. Today, I will be using these terms fairly interchangeably. A definition to start us off: Dark Tourism taps into the macabre, secret, and shunned interests of humans; the world we create; and the one we leave behind.

The Macabre The Secret The Shunned Creation and Destruction Are real and valid reasons for someone to visit a site I said before that the intention of the visitor is a hot topic when trying to figure out how to define this field. Most of us have probably been to Death Tourism sites and have never really thought about, because it fit into a different category in our mind. The image here is a graveyard, which makes sense on the surface to count as death tourism especially if you are visiting it for a reason outside of knowing someone who is buried there – this cemetery in particular is Old Burial Hill Cemetery in Salem Massachusetts and would be a hotspot for that, as it was a filming location for Hocus Pocus, Old Burial Hill Cemetery in Salem Massachusetts. Dark Tourism deals largely with the commercialization of sites associated with large amounts of human suffering and death. Commercialization can happen in a variety of ways, whether it be through charging admission to a specific site, merchandise and materials relating to the event, or economic benefits that are by-products of the sites being visited, such as surrounding towns gaining revenue from hotel rentals, meals, etc.

Since the enlightenment, European and North American cultures have taken a strict stance on separating the dead from the living. Death occurs in buildings, cities, countries removed from us and we only see the sanitized version – the more removed we are from something with our engagement with death the better it is. That isn’t a hard and fast rule however, because the distance from the death and disaster in question can be spatial or temporal in nature, as long as there is some kind of way in which you can convince yourself that all this death and destruction happened to an Other. Caitlyn Doughty, a mortician who found notoriety through her YouTube Channel Ask a Mortician has done some research on what she refers to as the “witch to kitsch factor”, that being how much time has to pass before it is socially acceptable to take tragedy and make it into a thing of entertainment? My argument here however is that, the meaning that a dark tourism site creates and is created unto it has both to do with the temporal separation between the entertainment and the tragedy, but also the spatial and cognitive space between the two. I know I am probably preaching to the choir when I say that history permeates pop culture, and the line between tragedy and entertainment can be seen here. Pompeii occurred close to 2,000 years ago and is now a 13 years old Doctor Who Episode wherein even an Alien that alters many historic events, even this could not be stopped. Salem Witch Trials took place over 300 years ago, and the Halloween edge of kitschy witches have taken over the narrative of Salem, as the town has gained even more infamy in recent years due to the popularity that Disney has continued to experienced in the 26 years since its release. Chernobyl occurred 35 years ago. It is most recently a 2019 somber but still drama packed mini-series on HBO exploring the disaster and aftermath. These are not the first nor are they the last instances of Pompeii, Salem, and Chernobyl influencing popular culture.

The temporal and spatial separation that I just spoke of is what Foucault would use in the argument that dark tourism sites are examples of Heterotopias. That, and the Othering.

These dark tourism sites are marginal spaces, that are infused with the juxtaposition of sameness and contradictions. Foucault breaks down what a Heterotopia is through examining its:

Precise and determined function within a society, but can still have multiple functions

The power to Juxtapose the incompatible

A break with traditional time

Presupposition of opening and closing the isolation and penetration

Illusions of real spaces that create and Other

Each of these criteria hit on the combined need for things relating to death and destruction to be both intimate to our experience of the world, but also separate from us in a way in which we can walk away from them afterwards and cease to think about it. Dark Tourism is assumed to be an escapist pastime in which we as humans can displace our fears of death, decay, destruction, and general apocalyptic fears onto this physical place – particularly because of its seemingly socially acceptable mode in which we can grapple with these kinds of topics. I said before that it was after the Enlightenment that death became removed from our day to day life. But before that? It was common and fashionable to interact with death on ones down time – morgue tours in Paris were all the rage, with some people even asking to be locked in the display room with the unknown corpses to scare their friends and other visitors.

Death has been removed from us, and so these romanticized ideas of escapism and morbid contemplations are the simplistic and incomplete theories as to why people are drawn to Thanatourism.

Now don’t get me wrong, while I say that these theories are simplistic and incomplete – I am not denying that they have some merit and nuggets of truth and wisdom to them. We come back to intent. Why people engage in Disaster Tourism does not interest me so much as what their interaction with the field tells us about our own society. We make meaning out of everything, that is who we are as academics but also who we are as a general species. But how do we make meaning out of sites and events through the lens of dark tourism? I believe that the reasons we are so fascinated with these sites, outside of just general morbid curiosity (pun intended) – for starters, our fascination with these places, I posture, has to do with our false yet engrained belief that we are no longer experiencing such death and suffering anymore. This all happened in another time, in another place, to another group of people. Our fascination shows our ignorance. We think, Pompeii happened so long ago, it is more of a story than anything. We think, Salem will never happen again, we are past the time of believing that witches walk among us. We think, Chernobyl was the fault of the Soviets, we are a democracy. We don’t think – that this could happen again and is still happening.

I have mentioned Pompeii, Salem, and Chernobyl quite a bit now – lets get into how they are case studies for us making meaning out of dark tourism sites. First up: Pompeii The eruption of Mount Vesuvius and subsequent destruction of Pompeii and Herculaneum was first recorded in the letters of Pliny the Younger to Tacitus. On October 24th  79 AD,pumice stones and ash started pouring down onto the city, killing part of the population before those who were unable to escape were buried by the hot volcanic ash and burned alive by pyroclastic flow. By the end of the day, the city was buried in six to seven meters of debris, and it remained as such until its re-discovery in the seventeenth century. During his tenure as the lead archaeologists working to recover Pompeii from 1863-1875, Giuseppe Fiorelli is credited with not only the Fiorelli process of pouring plaster of Paris into cavities in the ash to discover what created those cavities – but he was also a driving force behind excavations being done on the city from the top down, rather than the streets first to further pillage the homes that were uncovered.

Pompeii is a special case when it comes to tourism of Roman ruins. To Victorian and Edwardian tourists – Pompeii was a disappointment to finally see. Mary Beard discusses how to these visitors, the depictions of Pompeii in art and literature, outshone the real ruins. From the beginning of tourists coming to the site though, it was always known that what they were coming to see and what would shock them the most, were the casts of the bodies that had been excavated were front and center as soon as you entered the site along the aptly named Street of Tombs. For most of its history, Pompeii has existed on this marginal plane, being both a city of the living and of the dead. Rome as a whole has always been plagued by the stereotypes and ideals placed upon it by people outside of Italy’s borders – namely it being an eternal city that should be temporally static, anchored in its own heritage – and Pompeii has been subject to the same expectations in many respects. has been constructed many times since its unearthing. First, through its own use as a city, and then during the Romantic period as a theme park for tourists, and even in the modern era as a place of education and where “the processes of historical discovery are laid bare”. The overall shift in identity for Pompeii was its change from a city of the living, where people went about their daily lives, to a city of the dead populated by corpses and ruins, now being re-populated annually by millions of tourists. Because Pompeii is a ruin, empty of life, and so far removed from the present reality in terms of time, it is very easy to project meaning onto – both meaning for itself and meaning for the visitors.

One of the darkest moments in American history was the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. The “largest and most lethal witch hunt in American history” began in Salem Village (now Danvers, Massachusetts) when several young girls, including Elizabeth Parris, who was the daughter of the town minister Samuel Parris, began to experience “fits” that had no discernable cause other than what the town doctor declared to be bewitchment. While the accusers themselves and many of the “witches” they targeted lived in Salem Village, the Town of Salem was where the hangings took place, with the first ones occurring in the fall of 1692 when Sarah Good, Elizabeth Hose, Susannah Martin, Rebecca Nurse, and Sarah Wildes were executed. From the Fall of 1692 to the summer of 1693, there were 20 executions, 19 of which were hangings and one pressing.

Salem is a place of societal ruin. The entire community turned on itself, before coming to the confusing conclusion in 1702 of the magistrates declaring the trials that were held unlawful, and decreeing that the good names of the victims be restored. I mentioned that Salem Village is now know as Danvers Massachusetts and while Salem and Salem Village, share the terrible history, Salem Village works hard to separate itself from the narrative, as seen by it renaming itself to Danvers in 1752. It desperately wants to be removed from the story of the witch trials, when arguably it has more geographic claim to the narrative than Salem itself. Danvers has gone about making visiting any sites within its border nearly impossible. Homes and buildings related to the trials that remain in situ have continued housing families and businesses, memorials have little to no parking available, and heavy traffic on the roads makes it difficult to visit them as a pedestrian, meaning only a specialized tourist who was bound and determined to see the locations would make the Herculean effort to find them. For Salem, the buildings that it claims connections to the trials have either been moved or demolished in the time since the witch trials, and key places like the exact location of the gallows have ended up being lost to memory. The markers that denote the locations also denote their own inaccuracy and obscure the events that took place during the trials – thus disappointing tourists when they learn of the deception. Salem capitalizes on a false authenticity of place It is not through education that Salem profits off of its dark history, but through the kitsch-based fascination of pirates and witches existing in one of the oldest colonial ports. The Salem Police Department logo even contains a witch motif. With souvenirs, dungeon experiences, and large events such as a Witch’s Walk, Salem revises the tragedy in its history in a way that romanticizes and idealizes it, similar to the way that Disney movies present history. There was a monument erected to the victims of the witch trials in 2017. It stands apart from the rest of the city in aesthetic and in placement, silent and innocuous that it can be missed: it does not loudly advertise its existence like the rest of Salem. It works in the way that dark tourism sites overall do, in the fashion of “visitors deciding the meaning”. By being ambiguous in its specific design, it allows for the tourist to see what they think is fitting for a monument, whether that be the gallows, a jail, or a ruined building.

Chernobyl to this day still has the reputation for being the world’s worst nuclear accident. Through a surge of energy to Reactor #4, the unit caught fire on April 26th, 1986, leading to its rupture and explosion later that same day. As people fled and were evacuated from their homes, with instructions to leave everything behind as they were promised they would be able to return in a few days, Pripyat, the closet town to the reactor, was re-born as a ghost town. Across the Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia, an estimated 200,000 people have died due to radiation exposure, and an even greater number of people suffer from ongoing health conditions. As expected, the argument for the inclusion of Chernobyl in these case studies is that it represents a man-made ruin through the folly of trust in technology.

With Chernobyl, it is important to remember that it took place against the backdrop of the Cold War. The USSR and America both had agendas that they were trying to further in their coverage or lack there of, of the reactor blowing. Seeking any advantages they could claim in exposing or concealing the situation, inflating or deflating the numbers of people harmed. It wasn’t until 2011 when Ukraine finally allowed tours to take place through Pripyat, before this it was only illegal tours led by members of the surrounding communities or family members of those impacted by the exodus. The tourists have a wide range of reactions to the site – expressing indifference to the history, excitement about the danger that they perceive, and some individuals even schadenfreude, pleasure of witnessing the misfortunes of others. For dark tourism concerns, it’s authentic for being in situ, adding the aura of the place to the experiences and representing death in a more immediate way. Chernobyl is prime for the romanticization treatment of media due to being within the living memory and located in Eastern Europe, a place that is already seen and depicted as a foreign Other to many, adding to the forbidden allure of visiting. With the rise of social media, the number of tours to Chernobyl see spikes in the fall and winter, when the nature around the abandoned ruins is dying and decaying as well, lending itself to the desired aesthetic for people to show off that they visited. “Chernobyl is both real and imagined,” where one can go explore and tell others about later – but it is also staged. Knowing that people are drawn in by the heterotopic binaries of the real and the contrived, items within Chernobyl and Pripyat are posed to illicit the maximum emotional impact when photographed, the creations of juxtapositions within a juxtaposition itself.

Death Tourism deals with sites of ruin, that are explicit reminders of the circle of life and death being indiscriminate. Tragedy has happened here, and it will happen again. Someone was here before, and someone will be here after, until one day in which there will no longer be an after for humans to inhabit. The meanings of these sites and those who visit them is continually in flux, and relates largely to the society that is taking note at the time. But how we make meaning of these sites tells us about our current society, whether we like what we are hearing or not. It is romantic to think that we only travel to dark tourist sites because we are contemplating our own mortality, but it is ignorant to forget that history is a spiral – events will happen again if not in the same circumstances. Witches are replaced by minorities and religious groups that we don’t want to understand. Natural Disasters like Vesuvius are happening more and more as we continue to ignore climate change. Chernobyl will not stay the worst nuclear accident in mans history for very long, as every year we outpace ourselves in technological advancements. A hopeful part of me wants to think that we are participating in Dark Tourism because we want to learn from our mistakes, but the way history is presented to the visitors, both intentionally and unintentionally and interpreted, seems to always come back to schadenfreude. Death has been removed from us for so long that we seek it as a macabre pleasure, one that society doesn’t allow us to have – and that’s fine, but only when it is the death and suffering of someone else, somewhere else, sometime else. Our fascination stems from ignorance, but not from wanting to learn from our mistakes, but from a place of relief that it wasn’t us. ________________________________________________________________ I hope you enjoyed this! I know the writing isn’t as high quality as a paper traditionally would be, but if there seems to be interest I can do future posts breaking down each site further <3  Thanks!